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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Google Fiber Coming to Grandview

By Paul Thompson

Like a healthy diet, a healthy internet connection in Kansas
City has become synonymous with fiber. Now, Google’s lauded high-speed fiber
network is coming to Grandview.

The city of Grandview will get their taste of the Google
Fiber’s one gigabyte connection speeds now that it has officially signed an
agreement to become Missouri’s second city to receive the new service. The city
held a special 6:45 p.m. meeting of the Board of Aldermen on Tuesday, May 7,
where the board finalized the agreement to bring Google Fiber to Grandview.

Grandview Mayor Steve Dennis said that talks with Google
progressed rapidly over the past several months.

“They gave us a call probably three, four months ago,” said
Dennis. “It’s progressed very quickly in the last two months with Cory, and
Dennis, and myself.”

“Raytown announced last Friday, but they do not have an
approved agreement yet,” said Grandview city administrator Cory Smith. “We now
have our agreement approved before they do.”

Just as in Google’s Kansas City launch of their fiber internet
services last year, Grandview will be split up into “fiber-hoods” that will
decide which areas of the city will get the service first. Grandview officials
are looking forward to working with Google to drum up support for the service
among city residents.

“We want to work with them on that,” said Smith. “Their
public relations person has already contacted ours. I’m sure they have some
ideas about how to get the word out.”

Grandview makes a strong fit for Google Fiber, not only
because it is surrounded by Kansas City, but also because the area of the city
is relatively small compared to some of the other municipalities in the region.

“We told them upfront that we are fairly small, but dense,”
said Smith. “They don’t have a whole lot of area to work with. They can have
most of the city completed in fairly short order.”

Smith expects that Google Fiber will serve as an ideal
marketing tool as Grandview continues to work on their next stage of
redevelopment.

“It makes us look like a pretty progressive, high-tech
area,” Smith said. “Google will put us on the map in another way.”

Mayor Dennis knows that the presence of Google Fiber could
be a major boon for Grandview.

“I am incredibly thrilled for the city, because this gives
us opportunities that we didn’t have before,” Dennis said. “I think everybody
should be excited. We’ve got a lot of opportunities in the city of Grandview,
but this is certainly a big one.”

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